Sunday, February 19, 2012

Looking Forward

This week was mediocre at best with regard to volume. As far as quality goes, I think it went pretty well. A few miles at "base pace," some pickups and short (200-800m) repeats, stair repeats, and plenty of hills. If I do this, but at twice the volume, I'll be in great shape.

Monday
5 mile loop around the house. I wanted to see if my lingering fatigue was from being inactive(and still losing 3lbs) or if I was still sick. Other than my lungs being really tight, the run felt effortless and my legs felt good. I ran at my usual base/recovery pace(7:35-7:55) without much effort. Funny how being sick makes the lungs so sensitive to pollutants like diesel exhaust.

Tuesday
Overslept. This sickness is really hanging in there. Maybe I'll try a run after work. I haven't done a night run in a while, and should keep in practice. The fitness part of a 100 is tough enough, but the logistics and timing is equally as important....so I'll see if I can manage that.

....9 hours later(ever watch SpongeBob?)

Didn't happen. Hittin' a bit of a low here. Time to get my head out of my ass.

Wednesday
11 miles - Parked near the lakeshore and ran some easy road miles to the park. Ran stairs and hills for about 40 minutes, and some miles on sand. For kicks, I ran out on the break arm to the light house as the waves collided with the ice covered rocks and hit me. Probably an unnecessary risk, but it was fun and made me feel alive for a minute before going into a windowless metal box full of airborne carcinogens.

Thursday
12 miles - A run at GVSU with Jeremiah. Muddy trails, hills, and fast pickups on dirt roads. Quite a bit of quality running. I'm faster on flat ground, He makes me look like a hobby jogger on hills.

Friday
Off. I'm really bad at having a life outside of working

Saturday
Off again. see Friday for further details.

Sunday
15(ish)miles - met up with Evan to do a few laps at Robinettes. 2 laps at around 36 minutes each, then another lap and some cool down miles with Efrem. Relatively high intensity running. Tagging along with those who run faster is how I peaked in college, so I might as well try it again. I felt great after the run, ready to do some.

43 miles. All things considered, it wasn't that bad. As much as I constantly beat myself up about mediocre mileage, you'd think I'd just get over it and just run. I also worked 50 hours this week. I certainly won't be making any excuses. Many people run more miles, work more hours, and have kids, so my hat's off to them and I'll just keep trying. I did treat myself to some retail therapy and order up some new shorts and shoes.

The ship-out date for the West has been moved up. It appears that I'll be breathing the thin air as early as the first week of April. If I can hold onto this foundry job until then, my plan just may come together and I'll make it. The trick now is to stay in decent shape so I can start training when life changes completely.

1 comment:

I'll be honest, as a non-elite (who never will be) 20 something, holding down a job while plugging away on the trail and in the gym, it's really nice to read posts like this. Misery loves company; but so does tempered ambition. Keep on keepin' on.